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| Foam-O-Graph© - it's what Mother would have wanted! |
TV's Doug McLure will be familiar to th' Four Or Five Guys© as "Burro" from TV's long-running Rio Grande Hemp Rustlers TV show, but did you know his secret passion for Mexican Dwarf Wrestling? Turns out Doug has his own club south of the border catering to like-minded-type guys!
Doug graciously granted th' Iof© an exclusive Vid-Fone™ interview yestiddy, wherein he waxed lyrical anent his bold initiative!
FT3 Hey, Dougie! Lookin' good!
DM Yee-haw! You ol' stump-suckin' hornswogglin' son-of-a-gun!
FT3 So - tell us about your exclusive Mexican Dwarf Disco N' Dinner Wrestling Club!
DM Which it is my Mexican Dwarf Disco N' Dinner Wrestling Club, Farq, located on th' outskirts of Escroto Mula here in fragrant Pastel de Urinario Municipality. Try our signature Liver n' Mint Gummi Bear Tacos!
FT3 Gee! They sure sound swell!
DM Say, Farq - out here in the desert, a guy gets to hankerin' after some late 'eighties disco sounds. Would you got any of them Idris Mohammad dance albums?
FT3 You mean the shit ones he did for the money?
DM Guy's gotta eat, Farq ...
FT3 Got a couple of things he did when he was fantastic.
DM Could a dwarf wrassle to them?
FT3 Ha ha!
DM Ha ha! [falls into horse trough - roll credits over harmonica theme from Rio Grande Hemp Rustlers]
So - will Doug's diminutive combatants be able to wrassle to the dancefloor beat of today's loaddowns? You be the judge!
... and I'll take Joe over Jeff any day.
Let's talk about drummers for a couple minutes before the world explodes. It took me a lifetime to realise they're the most important musician (no jokes please) in the band, and now they're what I listen to first. Muhammad is a very good drummer, and there are those who say he's great.
ReplyDeleteI like Clive Bunker from Jethro Tull, Mitch Mitchell (Hendrix), Michael Shrieve (Santana) and others to be named later.
ReplyDeleteFrom Britrock, I'd add Bruce Rowland, BJ Wilson, and Paul Thompson.
DeleteI've had the great pleasure to play with Clive Bunker - a local band was launching its CD and their guitarist was too ill to play the launch gig. I was asked to dep. He's excellent - and a nice guy.
DeleteAs I'm name dropping, I've also played and recorded with Nigel Pegrum - ex-Steeleye Span and Gnidrolog. Another fine player and all round good egg.
That's it for "famous" drummers.
My favourites...Richie Hayward, Ian McDonald, Ziggy Modeliste and Terry Williams.
Richie Hayward is one of the few drummers with an immediately identifiable sound. I can get Billy Cobham in here, too.
DeleteMy surname is actually Cobham - but I'm no relation of his, unfortunately.
DeleteSpeaking of signature sound: Tony Williams. It's the way he "taps" the ride cymbal.
DeleteOnce I overheard a Robert Plant song and thought, "That drummer sounds like Richie Hayward." Looked it up later and felt pleased with myself. I've never recognized another drummer's sound before or since then, so that speaks more to his style than my ear.
DeleteIf I had a list of favorite drummers, the late Tom Ardolino of NRBQ would be on it.
Great to hear NRBQ mentioned in any context. What a fantastic band!
DeleteWrite a FoamFeature© about 'em and win a swell trading card! (I know zip about these guys, and would appreciate an intro).
DeleteI thought everyone over there >>>>>>>>>> knew about them and it was us folks in Europe that didn't.
DeleteYou're a Monk fan, yes? Terry Adams, pianist with the Q - as they're known to the hippest of the hip, is too. The way he crosses R&B with Monk has to be heard to be believed.
If that's an offer to write something, I'm game - although it'll take a bit of time if it's going to worth publishing in these hallowed pages.
I wish I knew enough about the Q to do that. I was fortunate to see them several times when Big Al and Tom were in the band. Tom had that remarkable ability to play just slightly behind the beat. He could really swing.
DeleteNRBQ's Joey Spampinato deserves mention as one of the great rock bassists. He was chosen by Keith Richards for the Chuck Berry all star concert that was filmed for "Hail Hail Rock & Roll".
As Keef says in the film, Joey S plays that Dano Longhorn bass and makes it sound like an upright.
DeleteHim, Al, Tom and Terry were the Q, as far as I'm concerned.
Steve, yes, of course it's an offer to write something. Don't sweat it, though - think of it as a slightly meatier comment. Maybe with a zesty sauce, with hints of BBQ. Appropriate for NRBQ.
DeleteYes, Paul from Roxy Music and another Brit; don't forget Rick Buckler from "The Jam"...
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Rick Buckler - who may well be a fine drummer - is that I'd have to listen to The Jam. Which isn't going to happen.
DeleteWhoa, them's fightin' words.
DeleteCare to elaborate?
I'm too busy listening to great stuff I missed at the time (like these here Idris Muhammad elpees, which are unfeasibly swell).
DeleteThe Jam are to punk as Joe Bonamassa is to blues.
DeleteThe Jam are to The Who as Greta Van Fleet are to Led Zeppelin.
DeleteMost unkind to Ms Van Fleet. I wish her every success,
DeleteOh, by the way, which one's Greta?
DeleteAs for this comparison stuff, I wouldn't classify The Jam as punk in any way or form.
And hey, you don't find them swell, that's your loss/win, eye of the beholder.
Me, I'm not some crazy superfan, but I would say all things being equal, "All Mod Cons" is a top-to-bottom fantastic classic rock record, cornerstone of a rock collection type stuff. Certainly more coherent and consistent than, say, The Who's "A Quick One.."
Hold. My. Beer. HOLD MY BEER!
Delete"Power Of Soul" is my favorite Idris elpee. Swell indeed.
Delete"House of the Rising Sun" grooves along nicely, too.
Be careful with OneBuckGuy, though. He's ... *whispers* ... from Canadia.
DeleteWait, what?!
DeleteI ain't never been accused of that, no sir, no siree, and I don't take kindly to any such suggestion other wise...
My mistake! I'm confusing you with Clarence Pune. It's the Kniebundhosen.
DeleteMoi? You've never met a more polite Canuck.
DeleteNo Canuckian is ever less than more polite.
DeleteI will never forget watching The Jam play "Private Hell" on an American TV show. I thought it was punk as fuck. Listening to it again just now, it's clearly more sophisticated (lyrically and harmonically) than most of the 1-2-3-4 stuff, but it's furiously angry, and Weller's guitar sounds like it could pulverize concrete.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/AybWSdEbafA
It's maybe a generational thing. I first got that punk buzz from My Generation, so that's my reference point. I love The Who more over the years (up until CUT-OFF POINT). That buzz reignited with the first Damned album, but The Jam never made the connection with me - although I'm sure they're a fine band.
DeleteRat Scabies of The Damned might be the true heir to the drum throne of "looney" Keith Moon. I only have a couple of Jam albums, and rarely play them. On the other hand, Machine Gun Etiquette is IMO one of the greatest comeback albums of all time. The music press (and Brian James) had left them for dead, but then Captain Sensible is suddenly revealed as a guitar hero, and he and Dave Vanian wrote a set of fantastic songs. Amazing to think that Machine Gun Etiquette and London Calling were made in different rooms of the same studio, and at the same time.
DeleteI'm in the pro-Jam camp, evidently along with One Buck Guy
Deleteand Jonder. The early-ish B-side "Taking My Love" managed
to put together a whole bunch of stuff that I already liked:
UK punk, garage-caliber R&B, and even -- both musically and
in terms of energy level -- 1950s Rock 'n' Roll. Subsequent
offerings, perhaps disingenously marketed as Mod Revival,
count as highly worthwhile, sometimes memorably poignant
examples of of guitar-driven power pop, including on the
album "This Is The Modern World." I am admittedly unfamiliar
with Paul Weller's later work, but (a lot of) the stuff he
did before that was great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9VT92CrtI
Jonder - I have never heard a drummer play with as much sheer mad enjoyment as Rat Scabies on that first album. It's like he's found what he's for and what he wants are the same thing - too much fun to hold in his hand.
DeletePro-Jam here, also love the Damned. Given a choice of who I've share a beer with....it's Capt. Sensible.
Deletethe Greatest is ....Billy Mundi [early Mothers] +
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh1OwOIPoOo
hall of fame: Dave Mattacks...Kenny Buttrey...Tony Palmer...G Baker...Tony Williams
Pretty Purdie:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q577qMyq4k
oops-- meant Earl Palmer of course:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH0l7nIMfw0
Billy Higgins is on many of my favorite recordings. So are Max Roach, "Philly" Joe Jones, and Mickey Hart.
ReplyDeleteout west late 1800's cowboys hear drums coming from all around them one says ''I don't like the sound of those drums'' out of the darkness comes a voice''hey give us a break our normal drummer is home sick''
ReplyDeleteKer-tish!
DeleteA team of explorers are out in the jungle and the drums of the local tribe have been hammering away for hours.
DeleteSuddenly the drums fall silent...the expedition leader turns to the native guide and asks, "Why have the drums stopped?" and the guide replies,"Bass solo about to start."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMc4mI28GD4
DeleteAt almost 70, I still find farts extremely amusing.
DeleteThey never get old, Steve.
DeleteSpeaking of doing it for the money, Doug McClure did a series of mid-70s films in the UK based on the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Interviewed on set during the filming of the last of them ('Warlords of Atlantis') he was clearly pretty smashed, summarising the film thus - "We get pulled into this lost world.......we meet a couple of animals....it's a good family film". AFAIK he was never ever seen again by anyone.
ReplyDeleteMy fave drummers: Jack DeJohnette, Jon Christensen, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Fredy Studer just for starters.
Anybody want these albums? Seems a shame to consign them to th' Dumpster O' Doom©, along with Slayer. They're super-swell cool n' groovy. Like you!
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that you were still waiting for a request. Thanks for these!
DeleteLate to the party......Will you post 'em if I tell you Joe Morello is one of my favorite drummers?????
ReplyDeletePleased to make them available, Mr 1669. I like to hear from any of the 4/5g© who don't have the featured long-playing elpees. Back right after I dispose of this adult diaper.
Delete
ReplyDeleteIdris
Thanks for the Idris -- drummers are definitely the special sauce! Without Bonham, Moon, Copeland, etc, their respective bands couldn't have been what they were. Hal Blaine deserves some love too!
ReplyDeleteNot that anyone asked, but The Jam never did anything for me either though they're another band that I probably "should" like given that I am a child of the punk generation. Same with the Clash; love the Damned, 999, Pistols and the rest but The Jam and The Clash just don't do anything for me.
My favorite drummers...are the ones that don't do long solos. Better still NO solos. So Bill Bruford wins because I can't think of any solos on the Yes/King Crimson/UK albums I have. Although he was in Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe which wasn't his finest hour (horrid drum sound).
ReplyDelete